The recent war in the Persian Gulf has shown that the General Electric GAU-8 30 mm multi-barreled cannon, mounted in the nose of the Fairchild Republic A-10 aircraft, is one of the most effective weapon systems for destroying enemy tanks. But the rate of fire of this weapon is so high (4,200 rounds/min), the supply of ammunition carried by the aircraft is quickly exhausted. When this happens, the aircraft must leave the combat area and return to base to reload. Since the base is usually located a long distance from the battlefield, most of a mission's flight time is spent flying to and from the battlefield. The time spent firing on enemy targets before running out of ammunition is a very small fraction of the total flight time.
The present invention provides a system and operating method wherein cannon or machine gun ammunition can be transferred from a supply aircraft to a combat aircraft while flying close to a battlefield. By using this invention, along with aerial refueling, combat aircraft such as the A-10, (or helicopter gun ships) will be able to destroy vast numbers of targets on each mission because they will be given an essentially inexhaustible supply of ammunition and fuel.